Wake Up!!!

I was a bit behind on this, (was it 2 years ago?? ), nonetheless perhaps there are others like me, who never been exposed to such excellent discoveries through this amazing online film production called The Arrivals . A must see, for those who believe of the end of the world. There are 2 more interesting series on the WakeUpProject website called '' Phase 3" and "The Divine Book" also worth your time to watch. You can also watch it through Youtube, you'll find plenty, find the one under Noreaga/Archernahr. Go and have a peek, it'll change your perceptions of the world insyaallah.

Better late than never~

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 3)

We arrived in Mekah late at nite. As we approach nearer we recite the talbiah... whilst our little heart felt excited and overwhelm to finally reach our main destination... Mekah al-Mukarammah.. and to finally see the the holy Kaabah with our own naked eyes, insyaallah. From afar, I could see the brightest light coming from Masjidil Haram.. subhanallah. But, my first sight was distracted by the bigger building just right to it, The Zam-Zam Tower..memang potong stim. Why would they build such a gigantic tower in this holy land? It has taken the special grand-appearance of Masjidil Haram.. I would personally think that because of this, people could be more amazed to see the big tower than the Kaabah.. (sigh..).

But alhamdulillah.. despite the BIG distraction, my heart is still itchy from curiosity..

curious to see the magnificent Kaabah, the Baitullah. At that moment I was excited plus scared, would I see it? Bermacam-macam cerita tak bes dari pengalaman2 orang lain (actually pengaruh dari bace cerita2 cerekarama dari metro la.. apela.. hehe) terngiang-ngiang kat kepale.. ade orang yang tak nampak Kaabah sebab dosa yang tergantungla, and macam2 lagi la cite tak bes... So I pray hard.. moga-moga we are among the lucky one to be able to perform umrah without any hiccups.

And Alhamdulillah.. that very nite, we approached the Masjidil Haram, and there it was.. the big black cube.. as beautiful as people said it was, dan yang paling penting, I saw it! ;)

Around midnite, we performed umrah, from Tawaf to Saie and to Tahlul.. and khalas.. at around 1++ i think, we are free from the pantang-larang ihram. Mase buat umrah tak rase letih, tapi once dah selesai, fuhh.. terase jugak, nasib baik Myra kena tinggal kat hotel, kalau tak, sure lagi mencabar nak angkut die sekali tengah2 malam buat umrah (although I am sure akan dipermudahkan olehNYA kalau kiteorg bawak pun..;).

The hotel we stayed in is just few hundreds meters away, so agak senang nak berulang-alik. The next few days were just us and our own activities, berulang-alik ke Masjid, ambik sebanyak mungkin peluang untuk tawaf, because this is where, the only place we could do so.

I recall from a video I saw about tawaf, claims that ''the Kaabah has the strongest energy on earth that flows counter-clockwise, so by us flowing in co-relation with this energy, we are uplifting ourselves, we are reaching spiritual level that we rarely felt anywhere else, and the fact that we perform 7 times of the tawaf is because of the 7 level of the skies. So, we are reaching the ultimate state of wisdom spirituality''.. wallahualam.

I don't remember which day exactly we went for the group tour to see the Kaabah's Museum and the ladang unta. It was a brief tour, tak sempat nak bergamba sangat pun, hiks.

Anyway, the very last day before our departure, me, my hubby, nizam and Aiman went for our own quick tour with the local taxi. Paid Saudi Riyal 100 per taxi, to visit Jabal Nur, Jabal Thur, Jabal Rahmah, Mina, Padang Arafah etc2. During that tour, we could just imagine ocean of people coming to perform hajj. That empty tent, that empty field would be filled up with millions of pilgrims, with one hope; to not only fulfill one of the 5 pillars of islam... but to be accepted by Allah.

That same evening, we performed tawaf widaq, partly sad that it's time to say good bye. Praying that we'll be invited again..soon insyaallah.

23 hours later, we reached Doha... dengan azam dan semangat baru, semoga Allah terus-terus memberikan hidayah. Memang betul bak kate ustaz Abdullah, doa Nabi Ibrahim (a.s) sememangnya sangat makbul, doanya, semoga sesiapa saja yang datang ke tanah suci Mekah akan rindu untuk datang kembali..

that is exactly what we felt until now.....

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 2)

Another day in Madinah Al-Munawarah.. which is by rukun, is not part of the umrah, but as one of the respected sister once told me, 'How could you not come and visit Rasulullah (s.a.w) when you are so very near already?

She was right..

The ziarah to Madinah is mainly to send our salam to rasulullah (s.a.w) and his sahabat and to also visiting Raudah; which is as per rasulullah (s.a.w) is part of the heaven's garden.. and is among the most mustajab place for doa. So, whenever you have the opportunity, go ahead and make your wish to visit it, after raudah you are just meters away from makam rasulullah (s.a.w).

For ladies, they have provided few time slot for ziarah, sometime after subuh, after zuhur and after ishak. The guys have much more convenient to visit, which for them are open all the time.

Me and ibu went at around 10-ish that nite (taking turns as we left Myra at the hotel with her dad). We were guided straight to Raudah's way (so we tot). They have a system to gather all the ladies as per their nationalities; which of course put us among the Indonesian and Singaporean group. The ladies guard (as fierce as they can be) would constantly shouted 'Dhudhuk ibu..dhudhuk..' (which is kinda cute, considering they are arabs and all, hiks). So there we goes...from one point to another, like a heard of sheeps we were guided and ordered to make our way, meter by meter nearing Raudah, everytime asked to dhudhuk (sit) then again making few step forwards, then sit.. until we can actually see the Raudah. At the very last point, few of the Pakistani and Turkish ladies got so angry with our group. They stubbornly sneaked in to be among us (as they tot we are next in line to get into Raudah). The ladies guard kept shouting for them to get back to their group, but their ziarah spirit seems much stronger than to bother about a small system as this. We've waited 10 minutes, and another group went in, 15 minutes, another group went in.. it was told that our group (which is the most well-behave and dengar cakap) will be the last to go, so that the Turkish or the Pakistani won't have the chance to push us (which is apparently their best known-behaviour, hence the system). So bagus jugak la ade system ni, at least semua kompem dapat merase.

Alhamdulillah.. 15 minutes before midnite, we finally got in.

(Pic by Aizal)

The next day we have our ziarah with few local ustaz (which are from Malaysia themselves). We visited Masjid Quba, Bukit Uhud, Ladang Kurma and Kilang pencetakan Al-Quran (which is the biggest in the world). The mutawwif in our bus is ustaz Abdullah, throughout the journey he was talking really passionately about the sejarah that all of us felt so tak puas, and rase nak dengar lagi... so Haji Mansur invited him again for another session that night, none of us felt sleepy. All eyes and ears are onto him, memang best.. sayu je dengar sejarah rasulullah (s.a.w) and para sahabat. I hope one day to get the chance to hear the history told by him again..

Never in my life, have I felt so into the scene when people talked about history until that day.

The next day, we checked-out and ready with our Ihram, making our way to Miqat in Bir Ali, untuk pasang our niat umrah and off to Mekah Al-Mukarammah.

To be continue (Insyaallah)

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 1)

I think this is the only trip that one could never really plan on their own, unless they are 'invited'.

Our trip started on Wednesday evening March 31st, we left home after Asar, around 5pm. The meeting point is at Al-Saad stadium. Mr.Zahed was kind enough to offer his big Armada to send us off, alhamdulillah. So, there we are, nervous and excited to see the BUS that we gonna make as our bed-on-wheel throughout our journey for umrah.

Sampai-sampai je Al-Bayyan compound, we saw 3 of the buses lining up- gorgeous good looking brown metallic buses! New and Super cool, complete with a nice toilet (like the one in airplane) Alhamdulillah.

After maghrib, more and more people start to come, we loaded our bags into the bus and started choosing our seats, when we discover it's a full reclinable seat, sweeeeet! So there goes our worry . With a nice bus like this what could possibly be wrong? ;) The best relief is knowing that we can scrap off 'ke-taklalu-an untuk gune tandas awam' throughout the journey (which by experience from other people are super terrible!)

Some friends are kind enough to come and see our departure. So while waiting for the rest of the passengers, we hop on and off the bus (more like Myra yang forcing the hop-on-and-off) to meet them. At around 8, as planned we made our move. There are 4 buses all together, our bus was No 1, with the organizer Haji Mansor as a head. So, we lead the way to the Qatar-Saudi border.

We arrived Qatar border 1 1/2 hours later, with quite a smooth ride..

At around 10:30pm begins our best ujian, the Saudi border. First, Haji Mansor asked all of us to stay while he gets the immigration chop. Then the men were asked to go for fingers scan and picture taking. Then, the ladies turn. It seems quite a smooth deal, until one of the lady got stuck with her finger print; 5 times of failure and we started to panic. Tapi dengan izin Allah (rupe-rupenye almost all of us pray for her success serentak) 2 minutes after, she came out with a happy result, Alhamdulillah.

The next step was to go for baggage scan. We were asked to take all our belongings down and clear up the bus. Nothing should be left inside, not even a botol susu! It was already 1 AM i think.. so we were not in our best energy-level, plus the cranky Myra..cooobaaannn. The Saudi do a thorough check of the bus, using their special-trained dog. Then, the ladies were asked to enter a room for some handbag inspection and name filling. The immigration officer was a nice lady, all she had to do was to write down our name and check our handbag (if any). Once all done, we are back on track. Finally proceeding with our journey to the first destination; Madinah al-Munawarrah.

25hours later (yes.. campur tolak break), we arrived Madinah during Maghrib. I considered myself very lucky that I manage to get the room key and get ready in time for Ishak prayer (Further more, memang bersyukur that my period elok2 je abis time sampai Madinah!!). Ibu asked us to went ahead without her, as she still a bit too tired to rush to Masjid Nabawi. The magnificient Masjid was only 100 meters away, with the ladies entrance right across our hotel. It was my first best experience ever... seeing so many other sisters eager to perform jemaah prayer.

The spiritual experience is just unimaginable and beyond words. I couldn't really know how to express it here. I guess one can only know by own experience.

It was true what people say about the holy place, any wish.. any niyah will be granted almost instantly... so careful for what you wish for!

Among one of the magical thing that I experienced was when we lost Myra's crocs. We kept all our (cikai-slipper-that-intended-to-be-use-for-masjid-takut-kasut-mahal-hilang) along with her crocs, and yes.. like we expected, the slipper hilang.. tapi yang sedihnye so is Myra's crocs. The next day, my little heart was wishing that 'harap2 ade la crocs myra..' then I tried eyeing the shoe rack....then there it was.. myra's crocs with our emptied slipper bag; elok je ade! wah.. instant reward, alhamdulillah.

Banyak sangat cerita-cerita magik jadi, but i think this is enuff for now.. ;)

To be continue..

Soon..insyaallah

Dearest family friends,

we are going for umrah in 2 days insyaallah. Please pray for our safe journey and being rewarded with Umrah Mabrur..

Hope to see you again..

....Aminnnnn...

	‘Here I am O Allaah, (in response to Your call), here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Verily all praise, grace and sovereignty belong to You. You have no partner.’

Tok Mi in Doha!

It was already late, but yet Mommy and Daddy didn't try to rush me to bed like they always did. Hurmm.. something seems wrong. I wonder what is up with them? Instead, they took me out for a ride, still.. nobody is telling me anything, are they taking me to the Zoo? I wonder.

I was tired, but the twinkling lights along the slow and relaxing journey makes it harder for me to shut my eyes, so i rather stay up and stay fresh.

Oooo.. airplane!! Are we going for holiday? Are we flying to Disneyland? oh.. i wish.

After some time, I started to yawn, and my cranky nerve has got to me, I then started to behave abnormal. After sometime in the airport, I then saw a very familiar face, i know her from somewhere.. I felt a sudden rush of warm love... So I ran to hug her. Yes.. it's her! My Tok Mi is here!

Upon Ibu's arrival at the airport, I didn't aspect Myra to act the way she did, gosh.. budak kecik ni memory die kuat dari yang kite jangke. We tot they are just too little to remember, yet, they know just what is happening and who's who. Or maybe we should thank Skype?! Zaman teknologi.. the world became smaller than it used to be. Ingat lagi rupenye die kat Tok Mi.. siap berlari peluk.. memang terharu.

We made a sudden decision to bring Ibu to Doha. Sebab ade rezeki lebih, so dapatla ajak Ibu jejak kaki ke Doha lagi, and insyaallah to join our umrah trip at the end of the month too (I am praying to Allah so everything went as planned). 2 days after Ibu's arrival, we joined MAQ's camping program in the desert, on the way, few cars terstuck, sebab pasir terlalu lembut, so bergotong-royongla kaum bapa untuk menarik kereta.. Sampai-sampai the camp site, wow... ini jauh panggang dari api from our desert-camp experience, the place is like a resort, the only thing missing is a comfy bed and our own room. Lain-lain facilities memang tip-top. Siap ade surau, proper toilet and shower. Cantik.. untung Ibu dapat merase..

After sendiri-sendiri lunch and prayer, we enjoy a camel ride and some sukaneka for kids (yes.. si budak kecik myra participated! Rupenye dah pandai!! hehehe) Kiut sangat tengok Myra lari bawak air dalam sudu.. even die tak tunggu turn die, tapi what matters is she knew the concept of taking one spoonful of water from point A to point B (again silap point, instead of isi cawan team sendiri, die gi isi cawan team sebelah.. hehehe nasibla sape dpt Myra in their team! hiks)

Habis sukaneka, Myra trus main lompat dalam blown up castle.. I tried lompating too.. best!!! hehehe. Then I heard an announcement about a volleyball game to whoever interested. Aizal was nowhere to be found, so I went on and play with others, best.. lame tak enjoy a game like that ;)

After dinner, they started the fire and organize some congkak game, but I was already in the tent putting the cranky Myra to bed. Thank god it went easy. I then snugged out to meet with other ladies, borak-borak for a bit then forced to went back to our tent bile dengar Myra melalak. Our night was chilled but cozy enough, we slept on our own sleeping bag, sharing the tent with another sister while the rest of the bapak-bapak budak shared their sleep in a big tent opposite us.

After breakfast, all of us had to rush to leave, as the camp is booked by another group of people at 9. So, the journey home begins.. yang kusangke sekejap dan senang, rupenya sangkut ditengah jalan.. dieorang ajak main turun-turun bukit pulak! So, nak dijadikan cerita, sangkutla satu kereta ni at the tip of the hill, sebab the car is quite heavy and the bottom dah touch the sand, so tak bergerak-gerak.. Mr. Super Ai konon nak tolak sorang2.. haha memang tak jadi ape! Even tolak ramai-ramai pun tak gerak2, akhirnye kene tarik dari belakang jugak.. After almost half an hour, berjaye jugak kereta tu di-unstuck kan, then he went on to slide down the sandy hill, followed by Aizal. Me, Ibu and Myra tak berani nak naik kereta, so we slide down on our own, best.. main gelungsur pasir~

We reached home at noon, getting some rest for more activities to come..

P.S from Myra: Tok Di.. there's more story of Tok Mi.. that Mommy will update soon~

Enjoy the pic for now ;)

Dear Aza..

Alhamdulillah, i saw some pictures of your ceremony, i bet all went well as planned. I wish you a lifetime of happiness with your loving new husband. Although I'm not there to wipe the nerve off your hand, I'm pretty sure you are doing fine. Congratulation once again.. may he be the one who love you, guide you and protect you. For he is the bless and the answer to your prayer.

Aminnn..